Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A man defeated?

"The biggest thing that people forget is that when Toronto won the World Series, they had the highest payroll in baseball. There's a direct equivalent to that. If we're going to play in the big man's division, and we're not going to spend that money, it's going to be really hard for us to compete with those teams."

So says the much maligned - and unfairly, I would add - Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi this week. I'd made a personal pledge to stop reading into every utterance from Jays management, but this is too easy. Ricciardi sounds frustrated - frustrated at the lack of direction he's been given, frustrated at the "payroll flexibility" mandate, and frustrated that the promising team he'd assembled has now gone straight to shit (how's that for grammar? FAIL). In short, he sounds like us.

He also sounds like a man with one foot out the door, whether by his own desire or someone else's. Evidently, he's not part of "The Plan" (TM). So whaddya got for us, Beeston? I sure hope it's a little more than offering up Ricciardi as a sacrificial lamb. Tell me there's more to it than that, Beest. Because unless you're simply aiming to please the typical asshat JaysTalk caller, that's not going to be enough.

Blogger seeks assistance in locating missing sluggerHas anyone seen Randy Ruiz? He can be described as follows:

May or may not be a part of the 2010 Blue Jays baseball club. Insufficient evidence to evaluate at this time.

Currently sporting an .878 OPS with 7 HR in 95 AB at the Major League Level.

I'm enjoying the defiant tone. You can just see him strolling into Nadir's office and telling him to go fuck himself over his bullshit payroll.

Kinda like when class act Bill Koch didn't bother looking for another major league job after the Jays cut him, instead choosing to let the Jays pay his salary for sittin' around. Not that he would have found a job if he'd bothered to look.

What about the Rays? After more than a decade of futility, they built a championship calibre team for -- one season. It can be done. The exception does not prove the rule, the exception is the rule, don't cha know.

If only we could find a baseball genius like Brian Cashman. The Yankees have made the playoffs 14 of the past 15 seasons due to his clever signings and brilliant management.

So, once JP is out the door, his likely successor is...his assistant GM? I guess we're supposed to think he has all these great notes that JP refused to read?

In that article, is basically sounded like he's giving the Blue Jays the finger saying "try and find somebody else who can do better with an 80 million dollar payroll". I guess the writing is on the wall for J.P.

I don't love JP, but I doubt his successor will do any better if the only thing that changes is the GM. Bring back Gord Ash!

But don't we already know that's not the case? I thought that a big part of the reason JP was expected to be fired was because Beeston will presumably be naming his successor, who will then bring in his own GM. I'd like to see Cito gone as much as anybody else, but we're also getting a new president, so we can at least be sure it's not just going to be a new GM coming in.

I've never had a major problem with JP Ricciardi as a GM. Most of the moves he makes actually make sense, and he had the right strategy for winning in this division (cheap pitching and defensive upgrades). There are quite a few other GMs in the league that are just complete idiots (ie. Dayton Moore).

Honestly, there's a lot of potential for us to hire an even worse GM when he's gone.

JP hasn't done that poorly a job, he just rubs the TO media the wrong way and they have taken the task of bad mouthing him at every turn. At some point the players have to perform. The Jays pythag. record has been WAY better than there actual record the past 3-4 seasons. They have not performed the way they should, period.